While the city of Toronto has a vibrant arts scene, enjoying it can often be unaffordable. From transport to accommodations to the price of tickets alone, being a patron of the arts is often unrealistic for the everyday person.
Here are three ways that post-secondary students can enjoy Toronto’s arts and entertainment scene without breaking the bank.
Public Transit
To enjoy Toronto, you first need to be able to get there. Using public transit options such as GO Transit or the TTC are cost-efficient ways to get into and around the city.
What is the easiest way to use public transit? For post-secondary students, Presto is the way to go. With one black card, you can pay for the fares of 11 different transit agencies in and around the GTA.
The user-friendly Presto card only costs $4 and with the use of the Presto app, loading money onto your card is super easy. Not only does Presto allow you to stop wasting time using ticket machines and fumbling around with loose change, but it also provides its users with a 15 per cent discount on standard fare. Even better, post-secondary students get 40 per cent off, knocking nearly half of the price off your ticket.
For those planning on travelling using GO Transit, Presto is still a great option. However, on the weekends, the more cost-effective option is the GO Weekend Pass. Only $10, the GO Weekend Pass is valid for 24 hours and can be used on as many GO train or bus rides as you need. While it unfortunately only covers GO Transit and not the TTC, the cost of one full-price ride from Burlington to Union Station is over $14 just one way. With the Weekend Pass (which also can be used on holidays), you can cut the cost of just one ride by $4 and if you plan to utilize the pass for more rides than that, you are essentially using transit for free.
Transit usually runs pretty quickly and frequently. While not always the most time-efficient option, it does save money by eliminating the need to pay for astronomically expensive parking or the wildly fluctuating price of Ubers around the city. This makes it an easy way to cut costs when you are trying to enjoy the art and entertainment scene in Toronto.
Student Discounts
As a student, many places around Toronto offer discounts to anyone enrolled in a post-secondary institution.
The Toronto Symphony Orchestra, for example, offers $20 rush tickets for the Main floor and Balcony and $35 for Mezzanine, and the TIFF Bell Lightbox offers $11 tickets during the regular season and free screenings during the TIFF Next Wave Festival. But these are not the only options for student discounts. Many places have some kind of student offer hoping to bring more young people into the world of art. There’s is no harm in checking to see if the event you want to attend offers a lower price to those enrolled in post-secondary school, as it might just save you a chunk of change!
Pay What You Can or Free Admission
Another great way to enjoy the art and entertainment scene in Toronto is by utilizing the pay-what-you-can (PWYC) system. Many museums, such as the BATA Shoe Museum, Mackenzie House and the Spadina Museum, offer certain days where you can simply pay what you can to enter. On days when this is not offered, you can simply check out what local museums have free admission. The Museum of Contemporary Art has free admission on Fridays from 5 to 9 p.m. and the Royal Ontario Museum is free on the third Monday of each month from 5 to 8 p.m. These offers make it super easy to cut costs when you are trying to enjoy the art and entertainment scene in Toronto.
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Although enjoying the overabundance of culture Toronto has to offer can sometimes be expensive, there are many ways to make the experience worthwhile while staying on a budget.